If Christian Americans ever expect God to fulfill his half of 2 Chronicles 7:14, they must first repent of their national idolatry - their love affair with the humanistic, pluralistic, polytheistic, and antichristian United States Constitution.
Welcome to Mission to Israel Ministries Top Home | Online Books and Articles | Videos | Important Books | Broadcast Library | Blog | Store | Contact THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not commit adultery. Printable version. Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)* ____________________ *All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Portions of Scripture have been omitted for brevity's sake. If there are questions regarding any passage, please open your Bible and study the text to ensure that it has been properly used. ____________________ The Seventh Commandment is found twice in the Old Testament and six times in the New Testament: Exodus 20:14, Deuteronomy 5:18, Matthew 5:27, Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, Romans 13:9, and James 2:11. This book is devoted to the sexual intimacy that Yahweh* designed for a man and a woman joined together in holy matrimony to experience and enjoy. After Yahweh provided Eve as his helpmeet, Adam referred to this husband and wife relationship in the following manner: ...This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24) ____________________ *YHWH, most often pronounced Yahweh, is the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible.1 ____________________ When this "one flesh" relationship between a husband and his wife is approached and experienced as Yahweh intends it, sexual intercourse is one of the most intimate and beautiful acts shared by a man and a woman. However, when it is perverted or adulterated, it becomes one of mankind's most debased, obscene, and repugnant acts. When man turns away from Yahweh's created order, he makes what is beautiful ugly, what is wholesome obscene, and what is lovely vulgar. In short, man makes what is good evil, what is light dark, and what is sweet bitter - Isaiah 5:20. Without Yahweh and His laws, man is capable of devising, participating in, and justifying the vilest behavior. The Seventh Commandment - the antithesis of mankind's decadent sexual conduct - brings Yahweh's condemnation upon the sin of adultery. Adultery Adultery is sexual relations with anyone besides one's husband or wife. However, this limited application does not encompass the full scope of the Seventh Commandment. Adultery is not merely having extra-marital relations. All sexual transgressions, as defined by the Bible, fall under the Seventh Commandment. Adultery is any sexual violation that defiles the marriage bed. Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) corroborates this broader definition: 1. Violation of the marriage bed; a crime, or a civil injury, which introduces, or may introduce, into a family, a spurious offspring. In common usage, adultery means the unfaithfulness of any married person to the marriage bed.... 2. In a scriptural sense, all manner of lewdness or unchastity, as in the seventh commandment.2 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "adulterate": ...To corrupt, debase, or make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance ... spurious.3 Infidelity, miscegenation, sodomy, bestiality, incest, and other immoral sexual relations satisfy this definition because they all corrupt, debase, and make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance. Hebrews 13:4, which is probably the best commentary on the Seventh Commandment, associates not only moichous, the Greek word translated "adulterers," with defiling the marriage bed, but also pornous, the Greek word translated "whoremongers" or "fornicators." Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4, NASV) Hebrews 13:4 in the New American Standard Version (NASV), is very similar to The Bible in Basic English's translation of Exodus 20:14: "Do not be false to the married relation." Pornous, a form of porneia from which our English word "pornography" is derived, is usually translated "fornication" in the New Testament. Pornous or porneia are much more inclusive than most Christians* realize. While fornication is nearly always portrayed as the sexual misconduct between an unmarried couple, this is only one form of porneia. ____________________ *Not everyone claiming to be a Christian has been properly instructed in the Biblical plan of salvation. Mark 16:15-16, Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16, Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:26-27, Colossians 2:11-13, and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied to understand what is required to be covered by the blood of Yeshua (Jesus' given Hebrew name) and forgiven of your sins.4 ____________________ Incest is described as porneia in 1 Corinthians 5: It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication ... that one should have his father's wife. (1 Corinthians 5:1) Harlotry is identified as porneia in 1 Corinthians 6: ...The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.... Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?... (1 Corinthians 6:13-15) Esau's forbidden-lineage relationships with Canaanite women are described as pornos in Hebrews 12: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God ... lest there be any fornicator ... as Esau.... (Hebrews 12:15-16) Sodomy or homosexuality is defined by ekporneusasai, a Greek word closely related to porneia, in Jude 1: ...As Sodom and Gomorrha ... giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh [women with women and men with men - Romans 1:26-27].... (Jude 1:7) These four acts of sexual immorality - incest, harlotry, forbidden-lineage relationships, and sodomy - are identified in the New Testament as porneia or fornication. Miscegenation and bestiality, although not identified as porneia in the New Testament, also constitute porneia and can be placed under the broader heading of adultery. Because Yahweh's design for sexual intimacy is exclusive to the marital relationship between a husband and his wife, sexual sins committed prior to the wedding also defile the marriage bed. In short, adultery is any sexual impropriety that is false to the marriage covenant. Incest None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am YHWH.* (Leviticus 18:6) ____________________ *Where the Tetragrammaton YHWH - the four Hebrew characters that represent the personal name of God - has been incorrectly rendered the LORD or GOD in English translations, I have taken the liberty to correct this error by inserting YHWH.5 ____________________ Verse 6 condemns all incestuous relationships. The twelve verses that follow expand upon this statute by prohibiting sexual relationships between parents and children, siblings or half-siblings, grandparents and grandchildren, uncles or aunts and nephews or nieces, and in-laws. Leviticus 18:7-8 uses the idiom "uncovering your father's nakedness" to describe incest with a person's mother or stepmother: The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness. (Leviticus 18:7-8) The phrase "discover his father's skirt" in Deuteronomy 22:30 and the phrase "uncovereth his father's skirt" in Deuteronomy 27:20 are also euphemistic descriptions of incest with a person's mother or stepmother. The proper understanding of these phrases is crucial to understanding Yahweh's judgment upon Noah's grandson Canaan. Many Bible readers are bewildered as to why Canaan was cursed for his father Ham's sin in Genesis 9: ...Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.... And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.... (Genesis 9:22-27) The Biblical interpretation of the phrase "the nakedness of his father" reveals why the curse was upon Canaan and his descendants, and not any of Ham's other sons and their descendants. When you permit the Bible - specifically Leviticus 18:7-8, Deuteronomy 22:30 and 27:20 - to be its own commentary, it is apparent that Canaan was cursed because he was the offspring of Ham's incestuous relationship with his own mother. Some people may still question why Canaan was cursed instead of Ham, but Yahweh in His omniscience knew that the progeny from this incestuous relationship would prove to be morally reprobate. This was also true of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who came from the incestuous relationships of Lot and his two daughters, described in Genesis 19:30-38. In Ezra 9:1-12, the Moabites and the Ammonites were placed under the same curse as the Canaanites, and the Israelites were forbidden to marry them.* ____________________ *Ezra 9:1 lists Egyptians [Hamites - Psalm 78:50-51, 105:23-27, and 106:21-22] among the peoples from whom the Israelites were to separate themselves. The Hamites, as a whole, were not forbidden for the Israelites to marry, which would seem to indicate that the Hamites in this instance had intermingled with the Canaanites. ____________________ The gravity of incest is also demonstrated in the New Testament. Mark 6:14-28 relates how John the Baptist was imprisoned and later beheaded because he dared preach against King Herod's incest with his brother's wife. The Apostle Paul condemned incest in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5. Physical Consequences of Incest Although the Israelites of Moses' day may not have recognized the spiritual and physical consequences of these close genetic relationships,* we are now able to see the destructive consequences of incest. ____________________ *Incest is usually defined as forbidden sexual relations between near-blood kinsmen. However, Leviticus 18:8 and 16 and Deuteronomy 27:23 expand the term "near of kin" to include stepmothers, sister-in-laws, and mother-in-laws. ____________________ Arthur C. Custance expounded upon the physical consequences of incestuous relationships. He studied thirteen children who were born from either father and daughter or brother and sister relationships. Eight out of thirteen were born with severe mental or physical deficiencies. Three of the children were dead before they reached their eighth birthday.6 Although early man may not yet have known about these potential abnormalities, Yahweh had already established the consequences of these adulterous relationships long before He commanded Moses to ban them. Menstrual Impurity And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation ... also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed ... whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.... And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers [menstrual impurity, NASV] be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. (Leviticus 15:19-24) Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness [menstrual impurity, NASV]. (Leviticus 18:19) These passages address an area of privacy seldom spoken of or written about. This statute is principally speaking of menstruation, the monthly cycle that follows a woman's ovulation. Because many people are unaware that the Bible addresses this area of intimacy, many Christians transgress this Seventh Commandment statute. A man's wife, especially a prudent wife, is a gift of Yahweh. But Yahweh has not given man license to do whatever he wishes with his wife. The gift comes with certain conditions, as do all of Yahweh's gifts. Even though Adam and his progeny were given the earth to inhabit, cultivate, and subdue, the Bible contains many agricultural statutes that dictate how the land is to be farmed. Included in those laws is a stipulation that the land is to be rested every seven years. For at least seven days every month, a similar standard applies to a man's wife. Menstruation is a time when women are to be set apart and protected. Just as the land suffers when Yahweh's agricultural laws are abandoned, so does a woman's health when the statutes regulating sexual relations are ignored. It is a medical fact that a woman's health, specifically the environment of the womb, is compromised when Yahweh's statutes concerning sexual abstinence are ignored. Couples should abstain from conjugal relations for seven days, from the beginning of the woman's menstrual cycle, provided the cycle is normal. Although, opinions differ as to whether this passage requires total separation, there is no question that Yahweh demands sexual abstinence during this cleansing cycle. The law applies so long as the blood flow continues: And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.... But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. (Leviticus 15:25-28) Leviticus 12:2-5 mandates sexual abstinence following childbirth. The duration differs depending upon the gender of the child - forty days for a male child and eighty days for a female child. The Bible does not disclose why sexual abstinence is to be twice as long following the birth of a female child as it is for a male child, neither has medical science determined the reason for this stipulation. Perhaps the difference may relate to hormonal variations. Regardless, unquestioning obedience is required. At the best, it is an inconsiderate and selfish husband who would demand or do otherwise. The judgment for transgressing Leviticus 18:19 depends upon whether defilement during menstruation is inadvertent or deliberate. According to Leviticus 15, inadvertent contamination results only in physical uncleanness, requiring purification by a self-imposed separation or quarantine. A deliberate offence, however, is much more serious in Yahweh's sight: And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness [menstruous woman, NASV], and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people. (Leviticus 20:18) The phrase "cut off from among their people" is used in the Old Testament for both capital punishment and excommunication. Most likely it is the latter that is the intended punishment in this instance, but no matter how this phrase is interpreted, it is obvious that deliberate transgression of this statute is a serious infraction in Yahweh's sight. Marital Infidelity Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her. (Leviticus 18:20) With the limited definition that most Christians assign to the Commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery," many people think that this verse is nothing more than a reiteration of the Seventh Commandment. Leviticus 18:20, however, is one of many statutes that falls under and helps to explain the Seventh Commandment. The Bible contains many warnings against marital infidelity and its consequences: ...Wisdom ... knowledge ... discretion ... [and] understanding shall ... deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words.... For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. (Proverbs 2:10-19) Within marriage, sexual relations are meant to produce life. Outside of marriage, they can lead to death, both physically and spiritually. The last statement of in Proverbs 2:10 is intentionally hyperbolic for the sake of emphasis. King David, among others, returned to the paths of life after repenting of their sexual unfaithfulness. The Apostle Paul commented about such people: Know ye not that ... neither fornicators... nor adulterers ... shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) ____________________ *Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior's Hebrew name.7 ____________________ The number of people who escape the addictive nature of this sin are far fewer than those who, once entrapped, are unable to flee its dire consequences. King Solomon devoted a good portion of four chapters in Proverbs to warning his sons about the dangers of marital infidelity and whoremongering: ...The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell [sheol].... Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth ... and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.... Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread.... Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. ...whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.... Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.... That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones ... a young man void of understanding.... And, behold, there met him ... an harlot ... subtil of heart.... So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, ... Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning.... With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.... Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell [sheol], going down to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 5:3 - 7:27) Forbidden-Lineage and Interracial Relationships Sandwiched between statutes against marital infidelity (verse 20) and sodomy (verse 22), is a prohibition that at first appears to be entirely out of context: And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am YHWH. (Leviticus 18:21) This verse is typically interpreted as a prohibition against idolatry. But why would a statement about idolatry (specifically child sacrifice) be included in a chapter devoted to sexual interdictions? Perhaps this prohibition is not out of place after all, provided it is translated and interpreted correctly. The words "the fire" in ve… truncated (156,134 more characters in archive)